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Considering he who's forfeited approximately 40 years of his life because of a crime he didn't commit, Peter Sullivan projects a remarkably positive attitude.

During our encounter last month, for what was his debriefing session since being freed from prison in May, he was enthusiastic and looking forward to getting to Anfield to watch Liverpool play for the first time since he was detained in 1986.

That was the year of the sexual attack murder of Diane Sindall in his local community of Birkenhead - an occurrence he said he only knew about because someone turned to him in a pub at the time and said, "reportedly there's been a murder".

When he was convicted the following year at Liverpool Crown Court - he was sentenced to a extended term in some of Britain's most secure category A prisons where he would be hounded by his tabloid nicknames "The Beast of Birkenhead", "The Mersey Ripper" and "The Wolfman".

Navigating a Transformed World

Ahead of our conversation, he was rich with anecdotes about how since his exoneration he has had to adapt to a completely different world.

When he was arrested, Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, no one had heard of the internet and Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain.

He explained watching the fall of the Berlin Wall from a public television in prison.

Mr Sullivan explained how trips to the shops now show how "the world has transformed" - from trying to understand how self-checkouts work to realising that "rather than having a cheque book, you've got it on your phone".

Technological Adjustments

His confinement means he has been unaware of the way so many aspects of everyday life have changed - similar to someone who has been asleep since the 1980s.

"After spending so long in prison and learning there's no DHSS [Department of Health and Social Security, now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)] where you can receive your money - you're thinking, 'Goodness, what's going on here?'"

He now has a smartphone, after learning doctor's appointments need to be booked on something he now knows is called an 'application'.

He first became acquainted with them when he was traveling on a bus shortly after his liberation and saw people using smartphones. He only understood they were phones when he saw someone put one to their ear.

Psychological Consequences

Mr Sullivan's 14,000 days in confinement have also led to an predictable sense of prison conditioning.

He recalled how after his release, one morning in his flat he returned to his bedroom and settled on his bed, because he was automatically waiting for a prison officer to come and lock him back into his cell.

"You must be at your door at a certain time, otherwise the officers will go off at you", he said.

"I found myself thinking, 'Why am I here?'"

Desiring Explanation

But Mr Sullivan's hope is tempered by a longing for answers about how he was charged with an notorious murder that he was innocent of, and a perplexity about why he still has not had an expression of regret.

"My entire life vanished", he said.

"My liberty was taken, I lost my mother since I've been in prison, I've lost my father.

"It pains me because I couldn't be present for them", he said.

"I can't carry on with my life if I can't get an response off them."

"My only request, an apology [and to understand] the explanation for they've done this to me", he said.

Law Enforcement Position

Merseyside Police said "limited value to be gained for a reassessment of this matter today" because of "advancements to investigative techniques and improvements in the law over the last 40 years".

The force did submit some of Mr Sullivan's allegations to the police regulatory agency, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who will now examine his claims that officers beat him up and intimidated to link him to other crimes if he didn't plead guilty to Diane Sindall's murder.

When asked if it would issue an apology, the force did not specifically respond the question, but as part of a lengthy statement it said: "The force acknowledges that there has been a significant injustice of justice in this case".

Moving Forward

Mr Sullivan explained about his simple goal - an ambition that he said he had given up of being able to accomplish at some points over his approximately 38 years behind bars.

"All I want to do now is proceed with my own life and progress as I was before, and enjoy my remaining years now".

His future may be made more manageable by government financial payment, paid to victims of judicial errors.

This scheme is restricted at £1.3m, a maximum which it is thought his resulting award will get very close to.

But the process is not automatic, and it is time-consuming.

Andrew Malkinson, whose conviction for a rape he did not commit was quashed in 2023, was only granted an temporary payment earlier this year.

Convicted criminals who confess to their crimes and are paroled get a housing and some support regarding living expenses. Mr Sullivan, as an wrongly convicted individual, is not eligible for that help.

And so he is surviving a simple existence, with his humble goals - although many consider he is a future wealthy man.

His lawyer, Sarah Myatt, said "no sum that you could say that would be sufficient for losing 38 years of your life".